July
14, 2006Burnham lifeboats and helicopter
in search for missing dinghy sailor

An
RAF helicopter joined Burnham-On-Sea's lifeboats in a major search
of the coastline at Brean on Thursday night (July 13th) after
an empty rubber dinghy was found upturned at the water's edge.

The
town's two lifeboats - Global Marine and the Staines Whitefield
- were called at 9.20pm to assist Coastguards from Burnham in
a full torchlight search at Brean, near Warren Farm.

A
member of the public had reported seeing a person walk towards
the sea with a rubber dinghy at Brean beach near Warren Farm.
The
witness raised the alarm when he noticed the empty dinghy being
blown about by the wind soon afterwards.

Fearing
that a casualty was lost at sea, Swansea Coastguard called out
Burnham Coastguards and the two lifeboats to conduct a search.

When
no-one was found, a helicopter from Chivenor in Devon was also
called (see video) in
to conduct an infra-red and torch-lit search of the sea.

The
search was called off at 11.10pm by Swansea Coastguard control
after all participants had conducted lengthy search patterns with
no results.

Burnham-On-Sea
Coastguard Officer Steve Bird told Burnham-On-Sea.com: "We
were quite relieved not to find someone in the water due to the
length of time they would have been in the sea. The water is still
cold at this time of year."

"But
it still leaves open the question of what did happen. Did the
dinghy get blown there from a nearby holiday camp or did something
else happen? That said, we're confident we carried out a thorough
search of the area."

Burnham
Lifeboat Press Officer Mike Lang added: "Although the search
proved fruitless, this was an excellent example of all services
working together as a co-ordinated team. In fact, Burnham lifeboat
station received a congratulary phone call from Swansea Coastguard
Control thanking it for its efforts."